LORD Young of Dartington, regarded as the father of lifelong learning, has stepped down as president of the Open College of the Arts.

Lord Young, 86, who also conceived the Open University and set up the Consumers’ Association, founded OCA 15 years ago to offer courses by distance learning to those without qualifications. Now he wants to devote more time to writing and his place has been taken by professor Naomi Sargant.

Initially, Lord Young tried to persuade the Open University to offer performing-arts courses by distance learning, but without success. He revived the idea in the 1980s and OCA was set up in 1987.

The Barnsley-based institution now offers adult learners access to a wide range of arts training. Its 5,000 students study creative writing, drawing, garden design, musical composition, painting, singing and photography. Many courses are accredited by the University of Glamorgan and qualify for credits towards university degrees.

Christine Reynolds, 46, a housewife from the Wirral who left school with four O-levels, is enrolled on a level one garden design course. She sends her garden designs to her tutor, Jenny Mulholland, in north Wales. “The quality of the course materials is very good,” Mrs Reynolds said. “The course is very easy to follow and understand.”

Catriona Oliphant, 61, a retired secondary-school teacher from Glasgow, is enrolled on a level two singing course. She sends tapes of her sung exercises to her tutor Colette Henshaw, in Northampton. Ms Henshaw sends comments back to Ms Oliphant on tape.

“It was horrendous the first time - singing into a tape recorder, thinking, ‘I have got to send this to somebody,’” Ms Oliphant said. “But once the tutor had spoken to me on tape, I felt at ease. I am certainly enjoying it. I feel that I am hitting the notes better.”

Lee Cameron, 21, a manager of sheltered housing in Milton Keynes, has enrolled on a course in understanding dance. “You have to be quite motivated, obviously,” she said. “If you need someone pushing you it’s not ideal, but if you can work at a steady pace then it’s really good.”

Roger Head, the 56-year-old director of the college, would like the OCA to be able to reach out to help the disenfranchised.

The college already works with prisoners and hopes to expand this work in future. “People get excited about the creative bit and then they realise that they need to read and write better and to be able to count,” he said. “They fall into the rest of education almost by accident. It becomes a want rather than a need. We would like to extend the franchise. We just don’t have the money.”

Last year, the OCA broke even, with a turnover of about pound;1 million, but in the past it has been dependent on its trustees. It receives no government cash. Fees range from pound;299 to pound;439 per student. The end of Individual Learning Accounts will make it harder to attract socially-excluded groups.

Lord Young’s enthusiasm for the arts dates back to his schooldays. “Arts have been a lifelong interest,” he said. “As a young boy, I was intending to become a painter. Painting was almost the only thing I did at Dartington Hall (the progressive school in Devon) for the first two years as there were no compulsory lessons. I had no reason to think that the arts could not be taught by means of open learning. There is practically nothing that cannot be taught that way.

“So I was able to launch an experiment. With a little bit of money, I exploited the staff of the Institute of Community Studies (of which he is the director) and ran an experimental course. With very little publicity, there were a thousand students within a few months. It has not exactly been steady sailing since then, but it has been sailing.”